Finding the keys to the future…and trying not to lose them in the mess.

One of the best things about the blog is that if I write something down here, there’s a good chance someone will remember and bring it up again, and thus, my forgettery, which works extremely well, especially for things I’m not that enthused about, cannot take over. So I thought it would be worth posting my goals for the coming year – and perhaps you’d like to share yours. If I’m really organized (resolution #1 should probably be “be really organized” but I’m trying to keep this out of the realm of fantasy ), I’ll do a couple of updates on them as we go.

1. Slow down and spend less time in front of the computer. Three books in two years was a fascinating learning experience, and, frankly, I don’t ever want to do it again. I’m going to recommit to my three-day a week online policy, at which I was doing reasonably well until I hit the wall of completion. If my next book proposal is accepted (more about that when/if it is), I’m going to take a full year to write it.

2. Redo the front garden. When we laid out the front garden, we were anxious not to waste space on paths, and we built raised beds with no retention features, and spaced them as tightly as we could. This was, ummmm…dumb. While we can walk comfortably down the paths, they are not especially comfortable to sit or kneel in – which is how I do a lot of my gardening. And we simply have too much rain to have raised beds without formal sides. So the garden needs to be redug and redesigned, with irrigation and drainage redone, and the whole thing laid out again. Besides resolving to actually do it, I’m resolving to treat this as an opportunity to improve, rather than a giant hassle. Or at least I’m going to try.

3. Get a housemate or housemates, or rethink our plans. As some of you know, we’ve been on again/off again looking for someone to share our over-large home for nearly a year now. We’ve talked to various people, but we’ve never found the right match or the right set up or the right timing. But I’m starting to get annoyed with myself. It is time to either fish or cut bait – so my goal for this winter is to think hard about whether I want this, and to organize and redesign things in the house so that we’d have the space to share, and make a serious attempt at finding a family that might be interested in living together and working the land together (we have a separate apartment available and ideally are looking for a family with kids, if you are interested). If not, I need to figure out how we might better use what space we have and what our long term plans are.

4. Fence. We need a lot more fences if we’re going to really do serious rotational grazing and livestock farming.

5. Clean and organize the house as much as humanly possible in ways that will reduce the amount of time we spend hunting for fairly obvious things. Keep guest rooms ready for occupancy at all times. Stop treating our bedroom/my office as a dumping ground for things we don’t have time to deal with. Keep up with the laundry.

6. Make an attempt at more consistent sabbath observance – that is, no cheating – since it always ends up cheating me. Help bug Eric to practice reading Torah (this is the kind of pestering that is wanted by him, not the other sort ), work on my Haftorah. Read Haftorah publically before January 2010.

7. Get over the “oh, it is just one more thing, I’m sure I have time” thing. I tend to think that I can always take on one more little thing. Sometimes, that’s not quite true. Say “no” a little more often to grownups. Say “yes” a little more often to my kids.

8. Be the one to get up with the boys more often, and let Eric sleep in more. Pay Eric back for the last two years.

9. Keep up the Independence Days project, and take up the competence project. Keep working on the Riot goals, on using less and needing less. Remind myself that small gains add up quickly in the long term. Make myself look at what I did accomplish, not what I didn’t.

10. Balance “Farmer” and “Writer” more carefully. Now that I’ve gotten through the first wild thrust of becoming a writer, I need to figure out what I actually want to do with that – and where I want the farm to go and grow to. It took this long to achieve the identity – now it is time to figure out what I want out of them.

31 Responses to “Resolved!”

I actually do better NOT making definite resolutions and just living or trying to do stuff as I live in the new year. The year’s I make actual lists of things, I don’t seem to really do any of them! Other years, I get at least one or two big things actually done.

So, I’ll say what I’d hope to accomplish. Try to live withint a budget I set. I tried this last year and a big family blowup blew a big hole in my budget! I did what I thought I had to do but I won’t do anything like it again. Those names are OFF my payroll!!!

Okay, I’m going to keep on baking bread–I’m not bad at it and I want to keep on getting better. I really like the “feel” of the bread dough and mixing it all up and kneading and watching it rise and bake.

I have a parent’s estate to get paperwork going forward and that’s taking time to find things in files and do the phone calls, copies, mailings, etc.

And generally, just keep going forward, whatever comes along …. And keep readingn this blog and a few others full of information for me.

1. Spend way, way less time on the computer. Spend far more time interacting with the real world and working outside

2. Begin working and planning on a rational, realistic plan for my garden and property and get three beds planted this summer.

3. Starting right here in January, I will make and put back Christmas gifts for next year. I will not thrash about at the last minute and spend too much money buying cheap plastic crap from China which nobody really needs.

4. I will buy no magazine other than Countryside and Mother Earth

5. Get my food storage cranking again.

6. Keep the feasts with joy, especially if it means doing less and thinking more.

“So now the project is to accept depletion, and still find a good and abundant way of life, not just for ourselves, but for those that will come after us.”

1. to participate in the Adapting in Place online
class and identify what I can do, need to do, and commit to steadfastly accomplishing that.
2. to also simultaneously accept who I already am, have always been and be at peace with that. Example: On the rare trip to Albuquerque,
not only buy extra boxes of organic pasta but
equally critical, extra Prismacolor colored pencils for art which
for me, is similar to food.
3. to hear Bob Marley in the morning in my mind
about how the Sun is on the Rise Again and
instead of pushing the button on the computer….GO OUTSIDE and watch that Grand
Miracle and let it feed my soul.
grace, New Mexico

Well, to be brief, my resolution is just to SIMPLIFY. Seems easy enough, but it is going to take some work on my part, learning to say no, learning to streamline now that I’m a full time working mom, and so on and so forth.

I just want to get things down to barebones, from everything to my clutter to my weight.

I too want to organize my house and get rid of things that are dragging me down.
I want to improve my garden and grow more food.
I want to return to living the riot way and continue to simplify our lives.
I want this to be the year I *finish* a lot of projects, not just start them.
I want to get our bedroom finished so we don’t have to use the livingroom as our bedroom anymore.
I want to improve water use on our property, collecting more rain water and making it easier to water/irrigate the garden.
I guess that is enough, oh yeah, and get in shape. I don’t really need to lose weight, but I do need to be in better physical shape.
Take better care of my teeth, get root canal
That’s enough isn’t it
Cindy in FL

maybe it might be good to be more specific.
“commit to accomplishing”. ie
creating a chicken YARD and beyond eggs,
commit to being willing to kill
chickens if I want to continue eating meat.
ie I live a very spartan life as is, have, for
some years. But now, go further. If I can
identify a way to create enough electricity
for my very minimal needs…DO IT. I use an
amazingly small amount of electricity already, this is nothing new or any effort. But to find
out what I need to know about using NO electricity other than what I might be able
to receive from the Wind?
What about water…in the future? Again, my
water use, including quite a bit for “growing” is
not a financial issue for me at this point. With
my Social Security money of $620/mo, I’m good.
But what about my granddaughter who is 20 years old and thinking of children….what about them? If I could create a self sufficient little acre for them….??????

I am very inspired by your book to grow more food. I also want to become more water conscience, use my gray water, install better toilets. I want to budget better to save more money! Personally, I plan to learn more about herbalism.
peace

Oh, Grace, much the same! We were the Sharons of the Seventies, I expect …

Today, didn’t do so much. Dug up some sprouted elephant garlic bulbs for my boss, he’d like them for his garden. And he has dug up a and rooted a quince sucker for us.

Painted fifteen 2-liter water bottles black, for use as solar hot water bottles for the garden.

Sprigged along the back fence line. We’re getting serious about having a hedge.

Ate another 100 foot diet meal today … it was mostly beets and kale and bok choi and leeks, with homemade applesauce, did about 100 of these in the last year, would like to increase to 360 or so — one a day, say — this year.

But I did gain an unconscionable amount of weight last month. It’s very sad, this practically required feasting. So my resolution is not to fall for it next December…

I don’t make resolutions but I do have a goal for this year. In august I tracked our food expense and it was a shock. I had never done this so i had no idea. Since august I have been much more aware and less wasteful. We don’t eat out much but now when we do we often share or find specials (last night, New Years Eve, we had wed. night $3 burger and fries). I am tracking our food expense again as of Jan. 1 and my goal is to eat well without spending alot of $$$, not be wasteful, produce, preserve and eat more of our own food. I want to live a more frugal life and possibly buy some property with about 5 acres. I like having goals.

Motherhood for the weak – There is a recent university research report, that finds cubes of hair from a beauty salon, planted, are efficient at putting nitrogen into the soil. Fertilize with hair.

Or rabbit and squirrel hides, or other sources of hair. There are several mice about my place, you are welcome to them – just take your pick!

Other fertilizer might be compost, or volunteer to clean up after a neighbor’s livestock. Look for a horse-y tub called a ‘muck bucket’ – a large plastic tub, suitable for carrying .. muck. Compost or pile the manure until it goes through a ‘heat’ – this kills many weed seeds that might be present. Don’t leave it long enough for fly larvae (maggots) to hatch.

If you have a large fresh-water aquarium in the house with an undergravel filter, you should be changing out 1/4 the water every couple of weeks, stirring the gravel just before siphoning water off the bottom of the tank. This mucky water is excellent for plant-food/ watering house plants.

If you have goldfish in your livestock tank to keep the algae from forming impenetrable strings and fouling the water, you should also rotate the water and skim the muck off the bottom (I use a 1 1/4 inch Shop Vac hose for a siphon). This also provides a nutrient-rich resource for plants. I use 1-2 common (feeder) goldfish from the pet store per 80 gallons or so. They last several years, with no special consideration in winter. I don’t use a tank heater – just break a 6″ hole morning an night for the pony to drink, and refill on warm days. (We have relatively mild winters here in north central Oklahoma.)

As this new year commences, I resolve to be a more humane and compassionate person. Easier said than done. I also resolve to stop trying to make more out of life than it ought to be. If anything, after 65 years, I’ve learned that our expectations are WAY above what they ought to be. I’m tired of being spoiled and ashamed of feeling that way. The typical American has no cause to feel used or abused. The lifestyle we have here is so far above most of the world, we have no cause to be griping. In the years ahead, we’re going to discover just how lucky we are.

In years gone by, I and my family were involved in trying to establish coperative/community housing. Call it a commune, if you will. I saw then, and continue to see, that that’s a viable way of life…one that’s supportive of individual and group needs and goals. As I age, I see a communal housing arrangement as a real possibility. I’m fit and healthy and feel I could contribute to a collective enterprise.

Sharon, your intention to “acquire” a housemate is interesting. I’m not saying I’d be the ideal candidate…who knows? My best friend has an enromous amount of horse “sense” and is a most competent farmer/gardner. My son, BTW, lives in New Paltz, a beautiful place. Whatever, I’d like to propose this idea to all those that are going to find it hard to cope with the changing times ahead. I think that, when we get together, we get ahead.

So much negativity has been placed upon the idea of “socialism” these days. No doubt, because our current political climate. I believe, however, that socialism, or the instinct toward it, will salvage what has become a culture of selfishness. As above, I feel that getting together has a much better chance of survival than our current way of trying to cope.

Last year was spent ‘trying out’ a lot of ideas … next year, we go a bit further.

Bigger garden, definitely. Mom has moved back to the province and committed to help with canning and preserving the harvest. I want to grow enough to meet most of our vegetable needs (Mom and Dad’s plus ours) … I think it might take me two years or more to meet that objective, but I’m moving in that direction. So, more beds, some raspberry bushes, and definitely a cherry tree for Dad (he loves cherries!).

Expand the farm business: I spent today with spreadsheets, figuring the various costs and profits associated with the different products we have (sheep for meat & wool, cows for milk & beef, chickens for eggs & home eating) and trying to make intelligent choices about where to invest additional funds. Some things are obvious … others, I had to do the math several times to make sense of it. I do love Excel. The farm business is a cushion in case someone loses a job – it’s an alternative income stream (a few, in fact), and, hey, it’s food for our table too.

Speaking of funds… the top priority this year is to reduce debt. We have construction debt still sitting there racking up interest, and we want to get it gone. That means less discretionary spending, more determined debt reduction. However, we are getting better at that … my DH was a determined spender but he’s adapted to frugality really, really well. It just took some time.

Oh, and I want to write more. I need to write .. stuff piles up in my head if I don’t, but it takes time and quiet to get the words out well, and I’m not always good at seeking out that time. I want to submit at least one thing for publishing this year, I think. The post I put up today on my blog felt very risky – it’s not the usual “today the sheep were sooo cute!” kind of thing, but more of a riff on Sharon and The Automatic Earth and James Kunstler and all the things I’ve been absorbing steadily for the last year or two, but been afraid to really say out loud. Oh my, I think I just outed myself.

For anyone who cares to contribute to the beginning steps of a homesteader / writer, I’d be honoured to hear your thoughts on … well, my thoughts, if you happen to stop at Apple Jack Creek, by the way. Anyone who reads Sharon’s blog would be ‘in the choir’ for today’s posting, I think, but that’s not a bad place to begin! I hesitate to even ask such illustrious company for input but … well, I gotta start somewhere, and you folks feel like friends.

Proverbs 16:9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

I always feel like God starts laughing at me the minute I start planning anything. But here goes:

1. Become more deliberate. I have 49 years (give or take) of getting the bit in my teeth and running with it. If you look up the word “impetuous” in the dictionary, you’d see a picture of me. Sometimes it works but often times it does not, both with anything of interest to me as well as relationships with others. It is time to. Slow. Down. This would explain why plants didn’t get started, transplanted, harvested and cleaned up in any sort of organized fashion (started way, way too many plants, had to reclaim existing beds from the weeds and build new beds on top of the gravel of the backyard AFTER the plants were ready for transplant, didn’t have a lot of buy-in from the other people living in the house, etc.). It would also explain why I have enough food stored to last a year but no water. Or alternative cooking sources. I won’t even talk about personal relationships. Feh. Must. Slow. Down.

2. Add more garden bed space. The two 4 x 8 raised beds were adequate for experimentation but will not produce enough food, even grown intensively, for one person to live off of until the next growing season. Now that the dumpster is out of the middle of the backyard, it seems like there are acres to work with (not really, but it seems that way). Build at least two more 4 x 8 beds in the backyard BEFORE the end of May.

3. Limit experimentation with new plants to some number under a dozen. Last year everything was for the first time and I had no limits. Consequently, I ended the year with five month old plants still in four inch pots. Also, it’s a wonder the prinsepia, blueberries, currants, plums, cherries and apples didn’t all just die from being badly mistreated. It will be interesting to see how many survive the winter.

4. Begin serious seed saving. Of the plants that actually matured enough to produce seed, I kept what I could. However, I was growing more than one type of certain plants (broccoli and fava beans) side-by-side. I’m trying to see if the kale, Brussels sprouts and collards from last year overwinter and flower this coming year. If so, I’ve got hard choices to make because I’ve got three kinds of kale and two kinds of Brussels sprouts in the same beds. However, I only grew one type of shell pea and will be planting this past year’s seed for this year. I see developing seeds for plants that have grown in successive seasons in Anchorage to be something I can trade, barter or sell. There is growing interest in the local food community in saving seed and I see this as a valuable resource in the future.

5. Build community within my building. There are six adults and one child living in three units and we’re all related to each other in some way. I interact with two of the adults the most but hardly interact with the married couple and their child. There’s broad interest in the gardens and plantings but we never did a whole lot together. I mentioned to the roommate upstairs about wanting to learn cribbage (which he knew) so the other night he came down and we dinked around for a while. The couple upstairs wants to play, too, so pretty soon we’ll start to get together to play cribbage. There are other games they have that we could all play as well. On January 6, we’re holding an all-house party to celebrate the very last day of Christmas. I want to do more of these things through the new year.

6. Get back into playing music regularly. I’ve recently become reacquainted with my recorders after a five year lapse. And even five years ago only took group lessons for a semester. I used to play in a college early music ensemble back in the Pleistocene and had forgotten how much I enjoy playing, especially with others. The two men upstairs play guitar (although don’t read music) and I’m thinking that I might pick up a penny whistle to expand what I already have. I don’t play by ear but read music so this might be something of a challenge to overcome but then I’m looking for others to play with outside of the building, too. Music is great for all sorts of reasons!

About time to order seeds for the year and I’m not going to let the garden porn suck me in like it did last year. Up to a dozen new plants. Total. Including perennials and trees/shrubs. Must. Be. Firm.

Sharon, I totally redid my garden this year and it was absolutely worth it! It used to be 100 feet from the house, with narrow paths and 25′ long raised beds without sides. It was a disaster. My garden is now right off my porch, with 3 foot wide paths, and the raised beds have wood framed sides only 4, 8, or 16 feet long. I love it, and it has been extremely productive and easy to work in.

My list of things to do for this year is too long to list, but the main items include:

1) Work hard to stay within my budget and live with less.
2) Continue to cook at home, and not eat out or buy prepared food. Actually USE the food I’m growing in my garden!
3) Clean up my house and KEEP it cleaned, so I feel comfortable having people over.

1. Reduce waste. I’m tired of watching our trash fill up so fast. I stopped buying paper napkins six months ago. I don’t buy paper towels or facial tissues. Our family has gotten used to these changes, and now I want to stop it with the plastic garbage bags. I’ve told my family that if all food scraps can be composted or fed to animals, then we’ll just have paper, cardboard, and plastic in the garbage, reducing the smells.

2. Watch and reduce our spending. I plan to write down every single expense and income item for one year. I have done this for two months straight, but never longer. I first tried this out after reading Your Money Or Your Life and have now returned to the book in attempt to apply some of the principles.

3. Double or triple my garden space. We are over halfway through our canned and root cellared foods. I think people have traditionally starved in the early spring from running out of food. We would fit into this category.

4. Make more handmade gifts.

5. Make friends that think the same way I do. Over the last five years, I have struggled to develop meaningful friendships. Most of my friends from childhood and college are into big houses, cars, and shopping. We have really drifted apart and I find myself very lonely.

I wrote about this on my blog, but even though I usually suck at resolutions and prefer themes for the year, this time I set up a few since they’re things that have been on my mind for awhile. In addition to getting a good chunk of work done on my dissertation, I’m looking to finally set up a garden on my patio, reduce my waste even further, join the local food co-op (and hopefully get into more community food projects as well), cut down on my spending, and really work on setting up a home that will serve me well. It feels like a lot, but it feels like the timing’s right.

Most of the plans I made last year came to fruition, so I’m not hesitant in setting some thoughts down for this year:
1. Help get a good garden going at my son’s house (he and his girl friend just got the house in September).
2. Plant more tomatoes and less squash (I’ll be running out of canned tomatoes before stored squash.)
3. Plant more perennial foods (probably a nut tree or two and fruits)
4. Really use the solar dehydrator for more soup and stew greens.
5. Try lacto-fermentation.
6. Install the solar panels I got a year ago into a battery charging station (the batteries include big power packs from Canadian Tire).
7. Get an energy evaluation done on the house and really tighten/insulate to minimize our heating costs.
8. Investigate the practicality of geothermal for the house heat.
9. Improve rain water collection and set up a practical irrigation system (got the stuff — just need to do the layout and install).
10. More kayaking/more biking/more walking with the DH!

This writing stuff is too much fun … so I am going to keep this shorter than my last post. Still have other writing to do.

I’ve kept a list of goals for each year since 1993. I have one for this year, but it’s already too long to write down, and I won’t do everything on it. Whatever still seems important, I’ll put on the 2010 list. But here’s what I’d most like to do in 2009.

1. Meditate every day. I practice Zen Buddhism but find it hard to meditate at home, because I keep thinking I “should” “do” something instead. Believe me, it’s better for everyone if I make the time to meditate. I’d go to my Zen Center every day, but it’s almost 20 miles from home, so I go only once a week.

2. Be the best neighbor I can be.

3. Glass in the south-facing front porch for a sunspace and small greenhouse. It’s already got a roof, just needs walls. One of my neighbors says she’ll help.

6. I’m already selling the veggies in excess of what my DH and I can eat … I’d like to increase what I sell but still keep it sustainable, meaning not too much work for me and not exporting too much fertility outside the property. This is my toe in the waters of the alternative economy.

7. Enjoy life!! And in my enjoyment, be an example to others of what is possible if they, too, accept limits and work creatively within them.

When I have made long, detailed resolution lists in the past, I have invariably failed to meet them and, as a result, felt bad about myself. Therefore, this year’s “resolution” is simply to make better decisions each day.

A HUGE goal, rather than resolution, for this year is to find a place to live, a way to have income, and get moved.